What is a legacy of courage?
Remembering wisely.
The Fulcrum of Courage, Conclusion
In June of 1003, Pope John XVII convened a secret council to address the suicide of Meridiana and her relationship with Pope Sylvester II, Gerbert of Aurillac.
There are no public records of the proceedings.
However, the council answered some very difficult questions, which were made public.
Meridiana was revealed as Gerbert’s voluntary concubine by their messenger. Gerbert confessed their relationship on his deathbed.
The central question was the morality of their love. First, however, they needed to determine whether Meridiana’s death was suicide - and whether she was a succubus.
The messenger who found Meridiana’s body searched her quarters on behalf of the secret council. He found Meridiana’s diary and a large collection of letters she received from friends. He also found the poem rewritten by the provost’s daughter.
The council considered the enduring nature of Gerbert and Meridiana’s friendship.
They already knew of it from Gerbert’s confession and the messenger’s testimony. The final entry in her diary was a confession. It confirmed the messenger’s claims.
In 10th century Christian lore, the Mother of Demons was Lilith.
However, Lilith is only implied to exist in a single passage from the book of Genesis. Beliefs about her were handed down through ancient folklore.
The council compared Gebert’s confession with the items found in Meridiana’s quarters. The contents simply did not correspond.
In folklore of the time, demons had no real friendships. Meridiana had many genuine friends with whom she exchanged heartfelt letters. The council concluded she could not possibly be a daughter of Lilith.
Her diary revealed a joyful friendship. The letter was antagonistic and referenced unsatisfied demands. One showed gratitude and understanding, the other dwelled on disappointment. One expressed harmony, the other expressed condemnation.
The council could tell it was a cunning and cruel deception.
Next, the council considered the morality of Meridiana’s death.
If it was moral, she could ascend to Heaven in the afterlife. If it was immoral, her soul would spend eternity in Hell.
Scriptural guidance is unclear about suicide.
In the 4th century, Saint Augustine turned to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato for answers. His writings were the foremost authority on the subject in the Christian church when the council was held. He concluded that suicide was morally wrong.
10th century Christians believed humans had a natural self-love imbued by God, and morality arose from within us because we were created in His image.
Suicide was contrary to both, since their purpose was to preserve goodness in us. If Meridiana killed herself, her death was surely immoral - and so was she.
When the council met, Rome was like a bubbling stew of conflict. Rumors about Meridiana’s suicide were simmering in most social circles.
Some claimed she cut off her own hand and discarded it in a monastery garden, yet she had both hands when she was found.
Others claimed she caused a spectacle during Gerbert’s funeral procession, yet everything went smoothly.
Still others claimed the Devil tricked her. The council was aware that the wound was on the back of her head, which suggested murder, not suicide.
The provosts’ daughter was never suspected.
The council found that Meridiana’s death was not immoral.
Being a voluntary concubine would not taint her soul if their love was virtuous.
The council found that although Gerbert’s love for Merdiana could not be justified theologically, its essence was indeed pure – as was hers for him.
The final determination was clear and public: Gerbert had overcome personal flaws and failures. He was indeed saintly, and Meridiana would join him in Heaven.
In the Book of Revelation, the Apocalypse is heralded by 7 trumpets.
The 7th trumpet sounds the conclusion of the great cosmic battle between good and evil. Heavenly voices boom that the worthy will reign beside Christ until the end of time. It represents the hope that one is worthy of liberation from suffering.
Today, followers of Karl Marx believe history progresses in a series of inevitable stages, according to his theory of systemic oppression.
They have repeatedly predicted when “late-stage capitalism” will end, and a lengthy apocalyptic battle called the “dictatorship of the proletariat” will commence.
Marx predicted a massive violent upheaval would begin spontaneously in England sometime in the early 20th century - and eventually spread around the world.
He predicted the poor would kill the rich in a global revolution on the threshold of the final stage of history. They would vanquish those who agree with property ownership, the family, and capitalism forever - which they regard as forms of oppression.
Marx expected many of the poor would die while foolishly defending their oppressors. His followers refer to destroying people who obstruct their collectives-based revolution as “breaking a few eggs to make an omelette.”
After the revolution, contemporary Marxists predict the “new socialist man” will arise and transform the worthy at the spontaneous dawn of a Communist utopia.
Marxist predictions have proven no more accurate than those of 10th century millennialists, and their ideology is constructed from many of the same schemas.
Marxists routinely revise and cloak the meanings of words to support their beliefs and limit the meanings speakers can convey to each other. By redefining and manipulating language to make their theories unfalsifiable, they limit others’ ability to express ideas and evidence that counter Critical Theory.
Moreover, his followers have committed several of the largest genocides in history in their efforts to implement their beliefs. Marxists have proven to be indifferent to the suffering of, and punitive towards, the people and families they decimate.
In the 1960’s, Marxism temporarily lost support among western scholars as news spread about the atrocities committed in the name of Communism. By the late 1970’s, however, they had redoubled their commitment to an updated version of his theory.
Just like the millenialists of Gerbert’s time, Marxists continue, aggressively, to recruit new believers and punish people who reject the flawed schemas behind his ideology. Their strategy is formally known as the long march through the institutions.
They have learned from their mistakes, but failed to abandon the fundamental axioms and schemas that produce them. Rather, Marxists regard their failures as righteous and the murderous consequences as justified.
The fact is history is mostly chaotic. Stage-based models only seem like perfect explanations in hindsight and have little predictive value, if any.
The future of humanity is not laid out neatly.
Marx described “the end of history” when humans are to be judged whether they were on the “right side of history” and worthy to become god-like manipulators of reality.
Except, logically, history can only end when people stop writing it. We are not gods.
The suggestion that humans can have godlike power has always appealed to tyrannical rulers and emotional skeptics. Those who confuse the objects of their inner worlds with what exists beyond their own minds are especially susceptible.
When beliefs about time, emotion, and morality fail to accord with events in the world, we humans sometimes perceive, think, and act in horrible ways.
Is it any wonder people in the 10th century believed demons learned their evil ways from us?
Winners do not literally write the history books. They fund scholars to do the work for them. In return, they expect affirmations of preconceived notions and egoistic fantasies.
Among scholars, philosophers, and theologians - the real-world authors of history - the Gnostic schemas are recurring themes that go back thousands of years.
Indeed, there are lessons we can take from history - except we must abandon the assumption that we are somehow innately superior because of when we were born.
If we remove our own philosophical lenses and seek to understand those worn by others first, it is possible to transcend our personal faults and failures. We can gain knowledge that is truly helpful.
Once you understand the schemas that shape beliefs and guide actions, you can recognize the solutions they offer as well as the problems they create. However, to obtain true understanding requires both courage and empathy without mentally distorting the intentions of others.
Progress in life is measured by what we accept, what we set out to do, and our willingness to embrace what is true beyond us.
We are all capable of fear, and we can all be brave. Courage enables us to stay at our posts and defend them, even when it doesn’t feel safe.
With courage, fond memories live longer and get better with each retelling. They can be there in our final moments, when they matter most to our souls.
Without courage, there is no way to practice any other virtue consistently. It may not be the full story of our lives, yet there is no authentic love or forgiveness without it.
Never let yourself believe that nothing can be done. Courage can be sparked in anyone, including you. Even when it is the end of the world.
The Fulcrum of Courage is where you pivot from self-inflation to genuine humility, optimism, and beneficial intent.
When you locate the Fulcrum of Courage, you have an opportunity to gain wisdom. With a long enough lever, the catalyst of change can weigh as little as a thought.
It is located in space, where empowerment is authentic. It is where you let go without becoming indifferent. It is where you stop believing false affirmations and give yourself permission to act in the real world.
It is located in time, when you are aware of fear and choose not to let it control you.
It is where you overcome the urge to withdraw. It is deliberately moving forward. The bigger the context or barriers, the more opportunities there are to be courageous.
Whenever you break with inertia, a lever rests upon the Fulcrum of Courage. It is not action, but inaction, that paralyzes and breeds fear.
Like muscles, levers require use. Locating the Fulcrum on a regular basis enables you to develop insight. Through maintaining a regular practice of locating it, you can calibrate your senses, master the objects of your mind, and become a competent judge of right and wrong.
You will make mistakes. You will also learn. Genuine courage is not a zero-sum game. To practice the way of resilience is to intentionally engage in a worthy endeavor.
Make a habit of accepting emotion while using reason to guide your behavior. Rather than struggling with fear, set out to master it.
When the order within you touches the chaos beyond, personal evolution is possible.
Pope Sylvester II was born Gerbert of Aurillac in the French Alps during the summer of 946. He was the first Frenchman, the first Mathematician, the first Scientist, and the first Humanist to be elected pope.
Gerbert read the works of Virgil, Cicero, Boethius, Porphyry, and Aristotle. Because of his reverence for Arab mathematics and astronomy, it was widely believed that he was a sorcerer.
He was a prolific teacher who tutored two emperors. They became his friends.
Gerbert wrote about arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. He also taught grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
Although he is remembered primarily for introducing Europeans to Arab numerals, he also reintroduced the abacus.
He was mechanically gifted and built the most advanced hydraulic brass organ of his time. He built a horologium to predict the motion of the heavens, and an armillary sphere with sighting tubes for viewing specific stars and planets.
Today, he is regarded as one of the most important Scientists of his time.
Legend has it that Meridiana’s body was placed alongside Gerbert’s in the same sarcophagus, at the Basilica of St John Lateran in Rome.
The inscription on the tomb references the Book of Revelation.
Translation from Latin: “This place will yield to the sound of the last trumpet the limbs of buried Sylvester II, at the advent [second coming] of the Lord.”
It is said that when a pope is about to die, the stone of the sarcophagus sweats. A thick fog rises around it.
Visitors report hearing strange moans and rattling bones from inside the crypt.
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